for businesses, brands and funders
Put your name behind a horse that nearly disappeared
We're a small conservation association in the Kyrgyz mountains with a documented genetic case, a documentary behind us, and a herd of more than 80 horses that exists because people chose to pay for hay. If your company would rather do lasting good than buy a logo slot, we should talk.
This association was built out of partnerships
Nothing here was started by one person with a plan. A Kyrgyz herdsman sold a spotted horse to a British film crew. A breeder in New Zealand saw that horse on television and wrote a letter. A laboratory in Texas ran the DNA. An illustrator in London drew the logo and gave it away. Herders across the valley knew where the last spotted horses were, and said so.
Every one of those was a partnership between people who had no particular reason to trust each other, and every one of them held. That's the association: a Kyrgyz operation on the ground, a French non-profit behind it, and a scattering of people around the world who each did one thing well.
So we know how to be a partner. We do what we say we'll do, we report back honestly, including when something hasn't worked, and we don't overstate what we've achieved. If you're working on biodiversity from another direction, whether that's land, species, food or the people who live alongside all three, we'd be glad to find out what we can do together.
Who we're hoping to hear from
We're not looking for a logo on a banner. We're looking for companies whose own work already points the same way, so that a partnership does lasting good rather than looking like good.
outdoor and adventure
Brands making clothing, equipment and gear for people who spend real time outside. Our herd summers on pastures up to 3,800 metres and winters at the ranch in the Ketmen-Tobo Valley, and the people working with them test kit harder than any campaign shoot. There's honest product testing here, and honest footage.
horse and equestrian
Feed, tack, veterinary, breeding, saddlery, riding holidays, anyone whose business rests on horses. Supporting a breed that came back from the edge is the most direct thing a horse company can do for horses, and your customers already understand why it matters.
ecological and regenerative
Companies working on biodiversity, land, climate and food, and those with a real environmental commitment rather than a page about one. A rare genetic line and the grazing that sustains it are a small, measurable piece of the planet to protect properly.
What these have in common is a long view. A herd is not a quarter, and a breed takes decades to bring back. If your company thinks in those terms, we'd like to build something with you that still matters in twenty years.
Why this stands up to scrutiny
the science is published
The Animal Genetics Laboratory at Texas A&M University compared hair samples from 30 Chaar horses, collected in November 2012, against 65 breeds, and reported in October 2022 that the Chaar is a genetically distinct indigenous population with diversity well above average for domestic horses. Read the report.
the story already travels
A documentary that premiered at Sun Valley and aired on BBC4, a silk scarf Alice Shirley designed for Hermès after seeing the film, supporters in ten countries, and a steady stream of visitors who go home and tell people. Watch the film.
the money is visible
We're small enough that a sponsor can see exactly what their money bought. A registered French association with an annual financial report every supporter can read, and a herd you can come and count yourself.
Three ways a company can work with us
Nothing here is a fixed package. These are the shapes partnerships have taken, and we're open to one nobody has thought of yet.
Sponsor something specific
Take on one real cost, for a season or a year, and we'll tell you exactly what it did.
- Winter feed for the herd, or a share of the season
- Veterinary care for a year
- A horseman's wages
- Shelter, fencing or transport
- The next piece of genetic research
Build something together
For brands whose customers would care about this horse, and who would rather make something than write a cheque.
- A co-branded product or limited drop
- Licensing artwork from our artists
- A campaign or film shot at the ranch
- Staff trips, retreats or volunteering
- A share of sales on a line
Fund the work
For foundations, trusts, grant-makers and institutions working on biodiversity, heritage or rural livelihoods.
- Breed conservation and the breeding programme
- Genetic research and official breed recognition
- Rural employment in the Ketmen-Tobo Valley
- Cultural heritage and nomadic tradition
- Multi-year core funding
A sense of scale
It costs about a euro a day to carry one Chaar horse through the winter, November to May. Everything else follows from that, and it means a modest corporate budget goes a very long way here.
€210
One horse, fed right through a Kyrgyz winter.
€1,050
Five horses through the winter, a mare and her foal among them.
~€17,000
Winter feed for the whole herd of 80-plus horses, the single largest cost of the year.
Let's talk
Wages, veterinary care, infrastructure and research are quoted properly, on the real numbers.
What a partner gets
- Credit wherever it makes sense: the site, the newsletter, social, and on the thing you funded.
- Photographs and film from the ranch that you're free to use, of a subject most brands can't get near.
- A written account of what your money paid for, with figures, at the end of the season.
- An open invitation to come and see the herd, and to bring people.
- For French companies, the same 66% tax reduction that applies to individual donors.
What we ask
- A commitment we can plan around, ideally across a season or a year rather than one moment.
- Honesty in how the partnership is described. We won't claim more than is true and we'd rather you didn't either.
- Room for the horses to come first when the weather or the herd says so.
- A conversation before a contract. We'd like to understand what you're actually trying to do.
What we can put in front of your board
- Registration as a French non-profit association, n° W353023160, with the legal obligations that carries.
- An annual financial report, published to members and supporters.
- The full Texas A&M genetic report, from a named laboratory, already public on this site.
- A documented herd with a known foundation line, photographed and written up season by season in the news.
- A named contact who will answer your questions directly, rather than a form.
How it works
you tell us what you're after
Who you are, what you'd want out of a partnership, and roughly what scale you're thinking. A short note is plenty to start with.
we come back with something specific
What we'd propose, what it would cost, what you'd get, and what we'd report back. On paper, so you can take the whole thing to whoever needs to sign off.
we do the thing and show you
The work happens in Kyrgyzstan, and you get the account of it, with photographs and figures. Then we decide together whether to keep going.
Start a conversation
Fill in the form below and we'll come back to you properly. If you'd rather write, contact@chaar-appaloosa.org reaches the same people. Grant-makers with a deadline should say so, and we'll work to that date.